Abstract

ICTs are now a central means to be socially, economically, culturally and politically involved in twenty-first century society (Selwyn and Facer, 2007). They are integral to the global flows of knowledge, people and services that characterize the knowledge economy. In this information rich society knowledge is being reconfigured. Knowing and learning are now as much to do with access and participation as they are to do with the acquisition of skills and knowing that. Internationally, governments have endorsed the need for students to be ICT and information literate. The contention is that students will need to be able to access, integrate and evaluate information, construct new knowledge and communicate with others if they are to take their place as active citizens in an increasingly complex and information rich world. Also evident is the view that ICT can enhance student learning within traditional curricula subjects through a positive impact on student motivation and engagement, and that ICT has the potential to change both how and what students learn. To date however the impact of ICT technologies on education and schools has lagged behind what had been expected. This chapter is backgrounded against a national evaluation project on the provision of government-funded laptops to New Zealand schools and teachers carried out by the authors (Cowie, Jones, & Harlow, 2005). This project provided insights into the affordances of laptops/ICT use in schools and the conditions that support ICT use. In this chapter we explore the various dimensions of ICT use by teachers and students and what enables and constrains these